Case Studies
Lessons Learned – Freeway Removal
While there are a number of examples of urban
freeway removals in North America, there are cer-
tainly no two that are exactly alike. While Seattle’s
situation is unique, it can learn important lessons
from other freeway removal projects including:
• Reduction of roadway capacity reduces the
number of auto trips. To the extent that ve-
hicle miles traveled can be reduced, a num-
ber of additional social and environmental
benefits are derived: decreased energy
usage and carbon emissions; improved air
quality and public health; increased safety
for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists; a
reduction in fumes and noise pollution; and
more cost-effective use of existing transit Source: Nelson\Nygaard
capacity. In Seattle, a reduction in auto trips
might help the city achieve its goal of a 7%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by
2015.
• “Spillover” traffic can be absorbed. Expe-
rience to date suggests that the “ceiling”
of traffic volumes that can reasonably be
accommodated through alternate routes,
on all modes, with appropriate demand
management and land use strategies may
be higher than previously believed. Gridded
street patterns are especially effective at ac-
commodating whatever traffic remains once
capacity has been reduced (although the
downtown Seattle grid, may be limited in its Source: Nelson\Nygaard
capacity for such absorption). Studies have
shown that the addition of capacity can
actually increase congestion by “funneling” San Francisco’s Central Freeway
traffic into a single direct route, rather than carried 100,000 cars per day
distributing it over a network.
• Freeway removal does not require a major • San Francisco’s Octavia Boulevard
shift to transit. Removal of an urban free- replacement carries approximately
way will in and of itself change travel pat- 45,000 cars per day with less than 3%
terns significantly. Traffic will find alternate shift to transit.
routes and travelers will choose the most
convenient mode for their trips or travel at
different times or to different locations.

January 2008 6A-
CASE STUDIES: Lessons Learned – Freeway Removal

• Freeway removal has a catalytic effect. Ex-
cess right-of-way can often be redeveloped
The Embarcadero, or converted into civic amenities such as
San Francisco open space. Even where this is not the case,
however, the impacts of freeway removal
tend to be felt over a broad area. Surround-
• The Embarcadero is an example of a ing property values increase, neighborhoods
complete street with high auto capacity become more attractive to investors and
and a very positive environment for pedes- visitors, and crime can be reduced through
trians, transit users, cyclists and visitors of increased foot traffic and the elimination of
shadowy hiding places. Even if crime is not
all types.
reduced, perceptions of safety often change.
None of the cities studied noted any long
term negative economic impact, even to ar-
eas that had previously been directly served
by the freeway.
• Design is key. It is not enough to merely
replace a grade-separated roadway with an
at-grade street. “Complete” street design
that seeks to accommodate all users, traffic
calming and other engineering techniques
should be applied. Design decisions should
be guided by concerns about equity and
efficient, sustainable use of transportation
supply.
Source: istockphoto
• Reductions of roadway capacity must be
managed, mitigated and monitored over time.
Freeway removal is not just a one-time de-
molition project. To be effective, it requires
a long-term commitment and a thorough,
integrated approach; one that constantly
observes conditions and designs solutions
for all users.
• Freeway removal should only be undertak-
en after careful consideration of trade-offs.
Even under the most favorable circumstanc-
es, freeway removal is not a panacea for
urban ills. Inevitably, it will require sacrifices
Source: Han Tekisalp for some. By displacing traffic onto at-
grade roadways, it may prove challenging
to pedestrians; to the extent that it reduces
auto mobility, it may promote some types of
businesses over others. In any case, a civic
conversation about competing values must
take place. Reduced auto mobility for some
trips may be acceptable if other values, such
as quality of life and economic develop-
ment, are prioritized.
• Freeway removal should be part of a larger
strategy. Removals are most effective when
they are one element of a comprehensive,
clearly articulated civic vision for enhanced
quality of life, sustainability and economic
development that leverages the opportuni-
ties made available by removal. For all of its
potential benefits, freeway removal should
not be seen as an end in itself but a means
to advance greater goals and objectives.

6A- January 2008
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Harbor Drive – Portland, OR
Over thirty years ago, Portland made the decision
to raze the Harbor Drive freeway and replace it Tom McCall
with a 37-acre park, making it the first city in the Waterfront Park
United States to initiate the idea of freeway de-
molition.

The Harbor Drive freeway was a three-mile long,
ground-level highway that ran alongside the Wil-
lamette River and provided a connection between
an industrial neighborhood, Lake Oswego and
areas south of downtown Portland. Built in 1942,
the four lane highway carried 25,000 vehicles per
day.

As the freeway construction movement gained
Source: Flickr
momentum in the 1950s a number of additional
facilities were planned for the Portland area. In
1964 the state completed the first freeway pro-
Key Findings and Outcomes
posed under this plan, I-5, along the west bank of
the Willamette River. Four years later in 1968 the • Created an important amenity for down-
State Highway Department proposed widening town and the only direct access point to
and relocating Harbor Drive between Front Av- the Willamette River.
enue and the west bank of the Willamette River. • The riverfront park was a key element in
However, by this time a movement to improve the creation of the Downtown Waterfront
open space next to the waterfront had been ini- Urban Renewal Area (DTWF URA).
tiated and the city’s 1968 Downtown Waterfront
Plan recommended eliminating the Harbor Drive • Since the implementation of the DTWF
freeway and developing the land as a park to URA in 1974, assessed land values in
beautify the downtown riverfront. downtown Portland have increased an
average of 10.4% annually, from a total of
A task force was organized to study the feasibil- $466 million to more than $1.6 billion.
ity of removing the freeway and replacing it with
a park. The nine-member task force was charged • Before and after comparisons found 9.6%
with evaluating and holding a public hearing on fewer vehicle trips on nearby roads and
three alternative plans for the Harbor Drive free- formerly connecting bridges.
way:
. Cut and cover, which would underground
the highway and place a park above the
freeway on the land that the freeway once
occupied

January 2008 6B-
CASE STUDIES: Harbor Drive – Portland, OR

2. Widen the existing freeway and realign it to
a straighter configuration
Portland Skyline
3. Relocate the Harbor Drive freeway to Front
Avenue and increase capacity from four
lanes to six lanes
Originally, the task force did not even consider
the option of closing the freeway, based on pro-
jections that the roadway would carry 90,000 trips
per day by 1990. Under increasing public pres-
sure from the public and the governor, the task
force revisited the issue and ultimately came to
the conclusion that if the public was forewarned
of the closure, traffic would adequately redistrib-
Source: Flickr
ute itself onto the network, and the freeway could
be closed.

How is the case of Portland similar The task force recommended closure and the pro-
to Seattle? posal gained leverage when an alternate route,
Interstate 405 was completed in 1973 and linked
• Both the City of Portland and the City of
to I-5 by the Fremont Bridge. In May 1974, Harbor
Seattle are environmentally and socially
Drive was closed and removed to make way for
progressive cities, whose policy decisions
construction of Tom McCall Waterfront Park. From
reflect an emphasis on these values.
the day of closure, no discernable congestion was
• There is a high importance placed on recorded on surrounding surface streets.
creating safe and pleasant pedestrian
environments and providing a high quality Impacts
of life for residents. After the removal of Harbor Drive, there were
• Both Harbor Drive and the Alaskan Way minimal negative traffic impacts partly due to the
Viaduct provide access to and through street patterns and traffic management of down-
their respective downtown areas. town Portland. In order to better manage traffic
and more effectively utilize the street grid, all the
In what ways is Portland different streets in the downtown were converted to one-
from Seattle? way and the traffic lights were signalized to enable
vehicles to travel across downtown without stop-
• Harbor Drive carried only 25,000 vehicles
ping. The conversion to one-way streets was also
per day, about a quarter of the daily
accompanied by reduced speed limits in order to
number of vehicle trips on the Alaskan
ensure a safe and friendly pedestrian environment
Way Viaduct.
as well as a bike-compatible environment.
• In Portland, Interstate 5 and the 405
Highway provided drivers with alternative What were the benefits of removing Harbor Drive?
freeway routes through the city as well as
Economic Development. The removal of Harbor
additional capacity.
Drive freeway was a catalyst in the redevelop-
ment of Portland’s downtown waterfront area as
it opened up direct access to the Willamette River
and 73 acres of land, providing a greater potential
for revitalization. In 1974, after the decision to re-
move Harbor Drive was made, the Downtown Wa-
terfront Urban Renewal Area (DTWF URA) which
covers 309 acres was established.

6B- January 2008
CASE STUDIES: Harbor Drive – Portland, OR

The implementation of the DTWF URA in con-
junction with the creation of the Waterfront Park
Sources:
enabled the City of Portland to promote develop-
Portland Development Commission 2005. A Brief
ment around the waterfront amenities that also History of Urban Renewal in Portland, Oregon
had positive economic impacts within the city as
Portland Development Commission 2005. Urban
a whole. Working with citizens and businesses, a
Renewal: Its Role in Shaping Portland’s Future
number of projects have been successfully imple-
mented, providing additional tax revenue for the Seattlepi.nwsource.com
city, helping encourage growth, and transforming Cevero, Robert. “Freeway Deconstruction and
the downtown into a vibrant place. Urban Regeneration
in the United States.” October 2006
• The Yards at Union Station – 650 mixed-in-
come residential units located next to Union Photo Sources:
Station in the River District neighborhood Flickr user joelmann: http://www.flickr.com/photos/
• River Place – A mixed-use development joelmann/452476148/in/set-72157600058676093/.
This author has given permission for use if credit
• Pioneer Place – A high rise building housing is given under the following license: http://creative-
both office and retail uses commons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/deed.en
In addition to providing a public good and improv- Flickr user stuseeger: ttp://www.flickr.com/pho-
ing the quality of life for Portland residents, the tos/stuseeger/241648275/. This author has given
permission for use if credit is given under
creation of the Waterfront Park and subsequent the following license: http://creativecommons.
DTWF URA has produced measurable financial org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
benefits for the city.
• In 1974, 75% of the properties in the rede-
velopment area were worth the same or less
than the value of the land they were on
• By 2002 property values had more than tri-
pled
• Growth in this area had outpaced the growth
of the city as a whole by 7% (as of 2002)
Reduction in Crime Rates. The redevelopment
of the waterfront area also had impacts on re-
ducing crime rates. According to police bureau
reports, since 1990 crime has declined by 65% in
the waterfront area compared with a reduction of
16% in the city as a whole. This is partly attributed
to new visibility and to the increase in pedestrian
“eyes on the street” in the area.

January 2008 6B-
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Central Freeway – San Francisco, CA
Background
Opened in 1959, the Central Freeway was envi-
sioned as the first leg of two crosstown highways

Franklin
DEMOLISHED

Gough
ultimately connecting the Bay Bridge to the Gold- SEGMENT OF
en Gate Bridge. Due to a citizen-initiated “freeway CENTRAL
FREEWAY
revolt,” just 1.75 miles were built. The freeway HAYES CIVIC CENTER
extended west from Highway 101 as a six-lane, VALLEY
elevated structure before transitioning to a four- Hayes

Octavia
Laguna

t
ke
lane, two-level facility. At this point it turned north Fell

ar
M
over the city’s main street, Market, into the Hayes Oak SOUTH OF
Page MARKET
Valley neighborhood just west of the Civic Center.
Haight
Ramps connected to the east-west, one-way cou-

sion

HW
plet of Fell and Oak Streets, and at the freeway’s

Mis

Y 10
northern end, it transitioned to a north-south one-

1
way couplet, Franklin and Gough Streets. At its CENTRAL FR
EEWAY
peak, the freeway carried approximately 100,000
vehicles per day. Source: Nelson\Nygaard

In 1989 the Central Freeway was damaged by the
Loma Prieta Earthquake, and the segment north
Central Freeway:
of Fell Street was subsequently demolished.
Before Removal
While the California Department of Transporta-
tion (Caltrans) began planning a seismic retrofit of
the remaining freeway, local officials and citizens,
emboldened by the perceived benefits of partial
removal of the freeway, began to consider alter-
natives including a depressed freeway with an at-
grade intersection at Market Street. The process
accelerated when the segment between Mission
and Fell streets was closed for four months in
1996 to demolish the upper, eastbound deck. The
gridlock anticipated by Caltrans staff, local politi-
cians and media failed to materialize, and Hayes
Valley residents grew accustomed to lower lev-
els of traffic, noise, fumes and vibrations. Around Source: Nelson\Nygaard

the same time, consensus began to form around
The Central Freeway connected Highway 101
a surface boulevard concept developed by Allan
near downtown San Francisco to northern and
Jacobs and Elizabeth Macdonald of the University
western neighbors.
of California, Berkeley. In 1999, with both freeway
retrofit and removal initiatives appearing on the

January 2008 6C-
CASE STUDIES: Central Freeway – San Francisco, CA

ballot, voters approved the removal of the free-
Central Freeway: way and the replacement boulevard. The Hayes
Before Removal Valley segment of the freeway closed for good in
2003.

Opened in 2005, Octavia Boulevard features four
center lanes for through traffic, landscaped di-
viders, two side, local lanes and two lanes of on-
street parking. It connects Fell and Oak Streets to
the remaining segment of the Central Freeway at
Market Street. At the boulevard’s northern end, a
new park serves the newly revitalized commer-
cial corridor of Hayes Street. Parcels freed up by
demolition of the freeway are being redeveloped
into nearly 1,000 units of housing. Traffic in the
corridor, which had stood at 93,000 vehicles per
day before elimination of the eastbound lanes,
has fallen by more than half to 45,000 per day,
with some of the remaining traffic displaced onto
alternate routes.

Source: Nelson\Nygaard Post-Project Evaluation
In February 2007, just less than 18 months after the
How is the case of the Central opening of Octavia Boulevard, the San Francisco
Freeway similar to the Alaskan Department of Parking and Traffic published an
Way Viaduct? evaluation of boulevard operations and its im-
• Like the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Aurora pacts on the surrounding area. Additional infor-
Avenue, the corridor consisting of the mation was gathered from the city’s Department
Central Freeway, Octavia Boulevard, and of Parking and Traffic for this case study.
Fell and Oak streets is a key link in the
regional roadway network, a primary Early indications are that while some congestion
through-route made up of both limited- remains, replacement with a lower-capacity fa-
access and arterial roadways and an es- cility succeeded in reducing total volumes, and
sential connection to outlying residential enough capacity was available in the surrounding
districts. While it is some distance from grid to accommodate any distribution of remain-
the city’s core, the freeway and arterial ing traffic.
configuration allowed drivers to avoid
one of San Francisco’s most constricted Among the evaluation’s primary findings was
chokepoints where three competing that, despite the reduced capacity of Octavia Bou-
grids collide and where several major levard, traffic along detour routes in the adjacent
streets take awkward turns or intersect South of Market district returned in the months
at odd angles. after its opening to pre-freeway closure levels. Of
• Traffic volumes are likewise similar. Be- the half-dozen points observed, three experienced
fore demolition of the Central Freeway’s decreases in traffic, while none experienced in-
upper deck, the freeway and the major creases greater than 10%. This, along with the re-
arterials on Fell and Oak streets carried duction in traffic on Fell and Oak Streets, would
more than 90,000 vehicles per day. While seem to indicate a significant reduction in discre-
Octavia Boulevard now handles half that tionary trips and overall traffic in the corridor, al-
volume, average daily traffic on Fell and though a survey conducted six weeks after closure
Oak in 2006 was approximately 74,000, of the freeway’s eastbound lanes in 1996 found
comparable to the 80,000 on Aurora that just 2.8% of former freeway drivers no longer
Avenue north of Denny Way.
made their trips, and just 2.2% of trips had been

6C- January 2008
CASE STUDIES: Central Freeway – San Francisco, CA

shifted to transit. However, nearly 20% of respon-
dents said that they had made fewer trips since
the freeway’s closure.
Central Freeway:
After Removal
Because the new boulevard did not open for sev-
eral years after the freeway closure, it was initially
perceived as a significant addition of capacity for
drivers. During the initial weeks after the boule-
vard opened, the city increased the number of
traffic control officers in the area, and it made a
number of adjustments to signal timings until the
new system reached equilibrium.

Benefits
• The Hayes Valley neighborhood has been
transformed from one described as “crime
plagued” in a CNN.com profile of the neigh-
borhood to one with stylish shops, restau-
rants and galleries. According to the Multi-
ple Listing Service, in 1996 the average sales
price of a condominium in Hayes Valley was
approximately $203,000, or 66% of the av- Source: Nelson\Nygaard
erage for all of San Francisco. By 2006, the
average price of a Hayes Valley condo had
increased to $760,000, or 91% of the city- In what ways is the Central
wide average. Freeway different from the
• On seven acres of former freeway right- Alaskan Way Viaduct?
of-way, between 750 and 900 units of new • Unlike the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the old
housing are planned. About half would be Central Freeway bisected a residential
affordable, and costs would be further re- neighborhood. It both impacted the
duced by limits on parking. Demolition of
health and quality of life of neighbors
the freeway helped spur development of
and depressed residential and commer-
the Market & Octavia Plan, a comprehen-
sive land use and transportation strategy for cial property values in the immediate
nearly 400 acres of surrounding neighbor- area.
hoods. An international design competition • Demolition of the Central Freeway
for four key residential sites attracted more presented substantial redevelopment
than 160 entries.
opportunities, while removal of the
• Revenues from sales of freeway parcels Alaskan Way Viaduct would result in few
were used to fund construction of Patricia’s new parcels suitable for development.
Green, a 16,500 square foot park located
where the boulevard meets the retail strip of • Residents of the outlying residential
Hayes Street. Additionally, the tree-lined Oc- districts served by the Central Freeway/
tavia Boulevard functions as something of a Fell/Oak corridor already had available
linear park itself, with its multiple medians to them a range of viable transit alterna-
and new sidewalk cafes. tives, including the N-Judah light rail
line. Moreover, alternate auto routes
generally do not require major detours,
delays, or travel through the congested
downtown core.

January 2008 6C-
CASE STUDIES: Central Freeway – San Francisco, CA

Impacts
Central Freeway: • Peak-hour congestion on Octavia Boulevard
has resulted both in backups on Oak Street
After Removal as well as spillover onto the parallel neigh-
borhood streets of Page and Haight. Adjust-
ment of signal timing has improved the situ-
ation somewhat. The city is also considering
removal of some on-street parking.
• The February 2007 evaluation also found
some impacts to transit service. Buses on
Page Street, which must cross the boule-
vard, can be delayed by as much as two-and-
a-half minutes during the morning peak.
• The most serious objections to replace-
ment of the Central Freeway with Octa-
via Boulevard have had to do with safety.
Injury accidents have increased at a rate
Source: Nelson\Nygaard
consistent with increases in traffic, result-
ing in 2006 in a dubious distinction for the
Summary corner of Octavia and Oak streets: It ranked
The example of the Central Freeway and as the city’s most dangerous intersection.
Octavia Boulevard offers a number of Most of these collisions were between cars;
potential lessons for Seattle. While the however, where Market Street meets the
boulevard and Central Freeway, motorists
Central Freeway was unlike the Alaskan
regularly make illegal right turns onto the
Way Viaduct in some ways – most
freeway and sometimes collide with bicy-
notably, it did not serve as a bypass of clists. A number of design changes have
the central business district, and so its been made, and more radical reconfigura-
removal did not displace traffic onto tions, such as colored pavement in the bi-
downtown streets – the freeway was cycle lane, are under consideration.
used to circumvent a significant bottle- • As originally designed, Octavia Boulevard
neck; and like Highway 99, the corridor would have featured a number of unusual
remains a heavily used through-route design elements. Several, however, were not
and not a mere spur. It carries compa- incorporated in the final configuration. Side
rable numbers of cars, similarly consists lanes are controlled not just by stop signs,
of a combination of grade-separated and but by flashing red lights; yet the 2007 evalu-
surface roadways, and it seems clear ation found a fair amount of noncompliance,
that on balance, removal of the freeway confusion and risk among drivers. At 18’-6”,
provided a range of benefits to the the side lanes are also wider than was in-
tended (although they are narrower than is
community without substantial negative
typically recommended for emergency vehi-
impacts for commuters. “Octavia Boule-
cle access), and their asphalt pavement is not
vard is part of a historical compromise,” the textured, traffic calming surface that was
concluded the 2007 evaluation, “and like recommended. Finally, while the side lanes
all compromises it may not be perfect.” were designed to serve as access routes for
Yet, it continued, “it has achieved its local residents and businesses, traffic quick-
most important goals.” ly queued along the southbound side lane
at the boulevard’s northern end, resulting in
a requirement that drivers turn right. Traffic
volumes in the northbound side lane, mean-
Primary Sources while, remain higher than had been hoped.
“Octavia Boulevard 2007 Update,” San
Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Unlike the Hayes Valley segment of the Central
Freeway, the Embarcadero Freeway was torn Source: Nelson\Nygaard
down shortly after the 1989 Loma Prieta Earth-
quake. Demolition had been put to a citywide Embarcadero Freeway:
vote before the earthquake, and rejected; once Before Removal
the freeway was damaged and San Franciscans
began to live without it, the barrier it created on
the waterfront made it a stronger candidate for
demolition. The freeway was demolished in 1991
over the objections of merchants in Chinatown,
who believed that the Embarcadero Freeway was
essential to their economic well being.

The six-lane, palm-lined roadway that took the
place of the freeway is known simply as the Em-
barcadero. The Embarcadero was designed as a
“complete street” serving all modes in a beauti-
ful waterfront environment. A vintage streetcar
line with daily ridership of more than 20,000, the
F-Market, operates in its cobblestoned median, Source: Shaping San Francisco History Project

bike lanes flank its sides, and on the water side,
San Francisco’s Embarcadero Freeway was
a large promenade is crowded with strollers and
closed after being damaged in a 1989 earth-
rollerbladers. At its connection with the foot of quake. The double decker freeway carried
San Francisco’s “Main Street,” Market Street, the 60,000 cars per day at its peak. The replace-
boulevard splits into two segments with a large ment boulevard carries 26,000 cars per day.
median to allow pedestrians more convenient

passage, providing a “front door” to the water
and a restored Ferry Building. Once the busiest
Embarcadero Freeway:
transportation terminal in the Bay Area, the Ferry
After Removal
Building (pictured left) had fallen into disrepair as
it found itself in the shadow of the freeway, but
now features a busy gourmet food market, and
new ferry landings have been restored and slated
for further expansion. A few blocks south, the
new Rincon Park serves as a focal point for the
new highrise neighborhood of Rincon Hill. Across
the street is the new headquarters of the Gap Cor-
poration.

Post-Project Evaluation
It is impossible to isolate the impact of removal
of the Embarcadero Freeway on development and
commerce in downtown San Francisco over the
past 15 years. What is clear is that in the years
following demolition of the freeway, whole new
neighborhoods were established in adjacent
areas, major new civic amenities and tourist at-
Source: istockphoto
tractions were opened in the path of the former
freeway, and existing tourist destinations that
How is the case of the Embarcade-
had relied on the freeway for automobile access
ro Freeway similar to the Alaskan
remained major destinations. In 1990, a New York
Way Viaduct?
Times article described Chinatown as a district
• Like the AWV, the Embarcadero Freeway “in demise”; by some estimates, business had
was a double-deck freeway along the dropped 20% since closure of the freeway. But by
downtown waterfront. While Port activities
1998, the co-chair of the Chinatown Economic De-
in San Francisco had declined over the
velopment Group told AsianWeek magazine that,
years, many light industrial uses remain,
and new commercial and civic uses have in spite of competition from new Asian shopping
emerged. Both waterfronts feature major centers in the suburbs, Chinatown had recovered.
ferry terminals, both include historic “San Francisco’s Chinatown is still bustling,” the
streetcar lines, both are within walking article explained, “and merchants say they haven’t
distance of major tourist attractions, and lost their core customers despite the new compe-
both are near former downtown service tition and the loss of the Embarcadero Freeway
districts undergoing redevelopment. nine years ago.”
• The F-Market streetcar line is, as has • As of 2000, traffic on the Embarcadero was
been noted, both similar to and unlike approximately 26,000 vehicles per day, or
Seattle’s (currently suspended) Waterfront less than half that on the old freeway. While
Streetcar. It follows the shoreline along a post-closure counts indicate that remaining
broad boulevard; however, the F-Market traffic was displaced onto alternate routes
is a much more vital transportation link, to and from the Bay Bridge, it appears to
operating along the length of Market have been successfully absorbed, as levels
Street, in addition to the waterfront. While of service were not substantially degraded.
San Francisco enjoys improved transit
• Since extension of the F-Market along the
access to its waterfront today, for nearly
Embarcadero and replacement of the old
a decade after the Embaradero Freeway’s
bus route on the street, transit ridership in
demolition, there was no major north-
the corridor has increased several times
south transit route along or even near the
over. Ferry service and ridership has also in-
downtown waterfront.
creased in recent years.

• A number of factors have no doubt contrib-
uted to the growth toward the south of the Embarcadero Freeway:
city’s Financial District and the rise of ad- After Removal
jacent residential districts. One factor that
made redevelopment possible was the re-
moval of the freeway and its ramps in the
South of Market district. Approximately
7,000 additional housing units are now un-
der construction or planned in the Trans-
bay and Rincon Hill neighborhoods, many
of them in former freeway rights-of-way,
and one condominium tower in the area is
now offering penthouse units for $2,150 per
square foot.
• Likewise, San Francisco’s tourism industry
grew impressively in the years following re-
moval of the freeway and reclamation of the
downtown waterfront. Between 1995 and
2000, visitor spending citywide increased
39%. Tourism fell in the wake of 9-11 and the
dot-com crash, but by 2003, when the refur-
bished Ferry Building opened, it was again
increasing. In 2006, visitors to San Francisco
Source: istockphoto
spent $7.76 billion, the highest total in the
city’s history. In what ways is the Embarcadero
Freeway different from the
Summary Alaskan Way Viaduct?
While the Embarcadero Freeway is the demol- • The Ports of Seattle and San Francisco are
ished San Francisco freeway most often com- both similar and distinct in key ways. In
pared to the Alaskan Way Viaduct because of its both cities, primary shipping operations
location, San Francisco’s Central Freeway may be have shifted south, and the downtown
a closer parallel in terms of its role in the region. waterfronts are being redeveloped into
Nevertheless, the example of the Embarcadero of- a mixture of uses. However, the Port of
fers a few potential insights: San Francisco is no longer a major port,
and generates relatively little truck traffic
• Broad boulevards, while challenging to de- in the downtown area, while the Port of
sign for pedestrian comfort and safety, need Seattle is a major economic engine for
not necessarily serve as a major barrier to the city.
waterfront access, and they are by any mea- • Overall traffic in the Embarcadero corridor
sure less of a visual (and possibly a psycho- is lower than along the Alaskan Way. The
logical) barrier than elevated highways. Embarcadero Freeway served a limited
• In San Francisco, at least, the blighting ef- transportation market: It provided direct,
fect of elevated highways appears to be pro- grade-separated access to the Financial
nounced. It was only after removal of the District, as well as the Chinatown, North
Embarcadero Freeway that the city’s water- Beach, Telegraph Hill and Fisherman’s
front emerged as an attractive destination Wharf neighborhoods in San Francisco’s
for locals and tourists. northeastern quadrant. Moreover, the
adjacent street grid is somewhat more
• Freeway removal does not appear to have extensive and well-connected than that
negatively impacted the economies of near- of downtown Seattle, and was able to
by neighborhoods, as had been feared. The accommodate displaced traffic. However,
net economic impact of the freeway’s re- there are relatively few access points to
moval for both the immediate area and city the grid, and greater demands are placed
as a whole appears to have been positive. on it by the high number and proportion
of jobs in downtown San Franciscos.

January 2008 6D-
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Central Artery – Boston, MA
Background
Boston’s “Big Dig” project was one of the most
ambitious freeway replacement projects in the
world, creating an underground freeway to replace
the elevated Central Artery that sliced through the
heart of downtown Boston. Built over 15 years
at a cost of approximately $15 billion, the project
exceeded its original budget by a factor of five.

Despite the high cost, the project has delivered
on many of its promised benefits – and more are
on the way. The 200,000 cars per day that once
sliced through the heart of downtown Boston
on the elevated Central Artery, cutting off the Fi-
nancial District from the waterfront and historic
North End neighborhood, are largely gone; and in
their place will soon be a 27-acre crescent of land-
scaped boulevard, reconnected streets, neighbor-
hood parks, cultural facilities and modestly scaled
development collectively known as the Rose Ken-
nedy Greenway. The design of the Greenway was
a joint effort of the Massachusetts Turnpike Au-
thority, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the
City of Boston and citizen groups. The first of its
three major parks, in the North End, was dedicat-
ed on November 5, 2007.

Post-Project Evaluation
The Greenway will be under construction for
some time; it will likely be many years before its
impacts can be accurately assessed. Nonetheless,
it is reasonable to expect not just quality-of-life,
health, and other benefits both intangible and di-
rect, but measurable economic benefits. A 2003
Tufts University study showed that condominium
values in central Boston increased by 5% when
sited away from the freeway and increased by 6% Source: Massachusetts Turnpike Authority
when sited close to parks and open space. The
study concluded that replacing the Central Artery
with open space would likely result in a billion-

January 2008 6E-
CASE STUDIES: Central Artery – Boston, MA

dollar increase in neighboring property values
– three-quarters of a billion dollars simply from
How is the case of the Central removing the freeway, and another $250 million
Artery similar to the Alaskan Way through the addition of parks. And, the authors
Viaduct? added in a Boston Globe editorial, “(t)hese num-
• The Central Artery/Tunnel Project’s bers represent only part of the benefit of the new
relevance to the Alaskan Way Viaduct parks. The billion-dollar bonus does not include
has much to do with whether the Viaduct the benefits to tourists, commuters, and resi-
is ultimately replaced by a tunnel. In dents of other Boston neighborhoods. The ben-
Boston, roadway capacity was not just efits to others are both aesthetic and commercial:
maintained but increased, though at a If downtown becomes a more pleasant destina-
very high cost. tion, people may linger and spend more money
there.”
• The high cost of the tunnel project
resulted in elimination of some of the Separately, a 2004 report in the Boston Globe
planned additional mobility improve- found that “in the fifteen years since the Central
ments including a new rapid bus line, Artery/Tunnel pro-ject began, the value of com-
and a direct transit connector between mercial properties along the mile-long strip that…
North and South stations, the region’s will become the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Green-
two major regional rail stations. In some way increased by $2.3 billion, up 79 percent…al-
ways, Bostonians were asked to make most double the citywide 41 percent increase in
a choice between freeway capacity and assessed commercial property values in the same
increases in non-auto travel. period.”

In what ways is the Central Artery A 2006 study for the Massachusetts Turnpike
different from the Alaskan Way Authority, meanwhile, added that the “Central
Viaduct? Artery/Tunnel Project has attracted an unprec-
edented level of private investment in new devel-
• Replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct, opment projects downtown.” The study identified
either as a new, elevated highway or $5.3 billion worth of projects recently completed
underground, would require dedication or underway within a five-minute walk of the proj-
of much of the existing right-of-way for ect, including 4,200 housing units, and it estimat-
some sort of replacement facility oppor- ed generation of nearly 36,000 new jobs.
tunities for new open space are limited.
• The Central Artery, with its traffic vol- Summary
umes of 200,000 cars per day, was a While few would find the Big Dig an example to
much busier and more essential auto be followed, Boston did replace the full capacity
route than the AWV, more akin to I-5 than of its elevated freeway with an underground facil-
the Viaduct. ity and reclaimed the land that the freeway dis-
placed. The amenities being built in Boston will
benefit the entire city, and is expected to benefit
the city’s economy as well.
Sources:
http://www.masspike.com/bigdig/index.html
http://www.rosekennedygreenway.org/
http://www.boston.com/beyond_bigdig/opinion/
artery_070102.htm
http://www.masspike.com/pdf/reports/MTA-
Economic-V2.pdf

6E- January 2008
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Cheonggye Expressway – Seoul, South Korea
Background
Cheonggyecheon (“clear valley stream”) is a
former seasonal waterway in the city center of
Cheonggye Expressway:
Seoul, South Korea. Between 1958 and 1976, the Before
stream was covered and replaced by the Cheon-
ggye Road and Cheonggye Elevated Highway,
or Cheonggye Expressway. Prior to demolition,
combined traffic counts on both roads were ap-
proximately 168,000 vehicles per day, about five-
eighths of which was through-traffic.

Between 2003 and 2005, the roads were removed
and the stream was restored. The stream is the
centerpiece of a 3.6-mile linear park. New two-
lane, one-way streets are on each side of the park.
While the city’s official budget was approximately Seoul Metropolitan Government

$385 million (U.S.), media sources have estimated
the project’s total cost at more than $900 million
(U.S.). Cheonggye Expressway:
After
Post-Project Evaluation
• In the 15 months after its opening, the park
attracted approximately 90,000 visitors per
day, 30% of them from outside the metro-
politan area.
• A 2005 study by the Seoul Development
Institute found that land values of adjacent
parcels had increased by an average of
30%.
• While before and after traffic counts for
the corridor were unavailable, the number
of vehicles passing through downtown de- Source: Flickr
creased 9% after a bus rapid transit system
and aggressive Transportation Demand
Management measures were implemented
as part of the project.
• Summer temperatures in the park, accord-
ing to project planner Kee Yeon Hwang, are
7 degrees (F) lower than at locations a quar-
ter-mile away.

• While two historic bridges were restored
Demand Management and (the Gwanggyo Bridge had been hidden un-
der the highway, while the Supyogyo Bridge
Freeway Removal had been relocated to a park), construction
Through a combination of incentives and was delayed by a lawsuit claiming that an
disincentives, the city of Seoul has, since accelerated timeline had resulted in destruc-
the mid-1990s, made transit a progressively tion of archaeological assets.
more attractive alternative to the automo- • An estimated 1200 street vendors were dis-
bile for trips into and within central Seoul. placed by the project. Many were relocated
While the following policies were part of a to a flea market at a nearby stadium; how-
much larger package addressing conges- ever, in 2007 the stadium was demolished,
tion, not just in the Cheonggye corridor but and plans were made for yet another new
throughout the core and city, two key com- market nearby.
ponents – the “No Driving Day” program
and bus system improvements – were im- How is the case of the Cheonggye Expressway simi-
plemented in the months after demolition of
the Cheonggye Expressway.
lar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct?
• Like the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Cheonggye
• In 1996, the city began charging private Expressway was adjacent to the central busi-
vehicles with less than three occupants ness district, and like the AWV, it primarily
a toll of 2000 won (about $2 US) at two served as a bypass for regional traffic. To
major points of entry to the CBD, Namsan the extent that its removal has not increased
Tunnels #1 and #3, during weekdays and congestion, it may serve as an example for
for a shorter period on Saturdays. Within Seattle. Between September of 2003, a few
a year, traffic fell by 14% and speeds months after the freeway’s closure, and Oc-
increased 38%. While traffic on alternate tober of 2004 – a period during which the
routes increased 6%, speeds increased city implemented both an incentive-based
by 16%. Tunnel traffic has since returned program of no-driving days and a major re-
configuration of bus service including new
to pre-toll levels, but vehicle occupancy
transit lanes – the volume of traffic passing
rates are now higher, and average speeds
through central Seoul declined 9.1%. Over
have remained faster. the same period, during which fuel prices
• In 2003, a voluntary “No Driving Day” pro- also increased, citywide traffic was reduced
gram was introduced. Participants who 5.9%. In an article in the Guardian (UK), proj-
ect planner Kee Yeon Hwang made the fur-
leave their cars at home one weekday per
ther claim that “(a)s soon as we destroyed
week are now eligible for benefits includ-
the road, the cars just disappeared and driv-
ing half-price tolls, 10-20% discounts at ers changed their habits.” While no data
public parking lots, a 5% reduction in could be found to support the assertion that
auto taxes, gas, maintenance and car roadway removal alone reduced congestion,
wash discounts. By 2006, the program Hwang added that modeling had projected a
had resulted in a 4% decrease in traffic, a slight decrease in areawide traffic. This was
10% reduction in carbon emissions, and consistent with his finding that the 1999 clo-
annual fuel savings of $50 million (US). sure of Seoul’s Namsan #2 Tunnel had im-
proved travel speeds by redistributing traffic
• Starting in 1997, the city instituted over the surrounding network. (Hwang is a
regular fee increases for public parking, prominent proponent of Braess’ Paradox,
and in 2004 it announced that it would which might be expressed as the theory that
be reducing the supply of public parking direct routes often function as bottlenecks,
downtown. The city has also sought and so reductions in total capacity can re-
to restrict supply by lowering parking duce congestion.)
requirements for commercial develop- • Replacement of the expressway restored
ment, and a residential parking permit water and open space access, enhanced rec-
program has been established. reational amenities, and is widely viewed as
having improved the quality-of-life of center
city residents, workers and visitors.

• Citizens of Seoul, like those in Seattle, have
come to place a premium on sustainabililty Demand Management and
as a cultural value. In outreach for the proj-
ect, planner Hwang said residents clearly Freeway Removal continued
prioritized environmental concerns. Project • Gas taxes have been increased, and
champion Lee Myung-bak, who was elected an incentive-based TDM program for
mayor in 2002 in part on a platform of restor- employers implemented.
ing the Cheonggyecheon, has added that
“this project is tied to the question (of) how • Finally, in 2004 the city’s bus system
we picture the future of Seoul, our global was fundamentally restructured. Most
vision of this city of ours. ... The curtain is significantly, a network of median
slowly falling on the stage called 'modern- bus-only lanes introduced in 1996 was
ization.'” greatly expanded: by 2005, four routes
extended 22 miles, by 2007, the system
In what ways is the Cheonggye Expressway different had reached seven routes and 42 miles,
from the Alaskan Way Viaduct? and by 2010, it should encompass 12
• In the years leading up to demolition of the routes and 73 miles. In 2004, the existing
Cheonggye, Seoul not only had committed network of curbside bus-only lanes was
to a policy of deterring auto trips into the also expanded. Fares and schedules
center city, but had rolled out aggressive were coordinated,and integrated with
Transportation and Parking Demand Man- the subway system, and services were
agement measures to implement it, includ-
color-coded (local downtown buses, for
ing congestion-priced tolls for motorists and
example, are branded yellow). A smart
increased parking fees. Additionally, the
corridor is served by multiple subway lines. card was introduced, and ITS technology
Perhaps most importantly, however, Cheon- is now used to manage the system. The
ggyecheon restoration was accompanied results: within months, rider satisfaction
by a voluntary program of no-driving days, had reached 90%, speeds in BRT cor-
with incentives such as reduced fees and ridors had improved by 33% to 100%,
tolls to encourage compliance, as well as an and accidents and injuries on all routes
overhaul of the city’s bus system including a had fallen by a third. Between January
bus rapid transit network featuring exclusive and late May of 2005, meanwhile, bus
median lanes. (See sidebar for more infor- ridership increased by nearly a million
mation.) passengers per day, or almost one-quar-
• Likewise, Cheonggyecheon restoration was ter.
one element of a much larger economic
development strategy, with both local and
global components. On a local level, much
of the project rationale had to do with revi-
talization of the historic downtown, which
has lost market share as the city’s economic
center has shifted south toward the Gang-
nam district. On a broader scale, the project
has been described by officials as part of a
“re-branding” or repositioning of Seoul’s
image internationally – a meaningful sym-
bolic gesture for a 21st century city. More
concretely, the Seoul Development Institute
has projected long-term economic benefits
of between $8.5 and $25 billion (U.S.) and
113,000 new jobs.

Summary
Perhaps more so than any American example, the
Cheonggyecheon project offers evidence that re-
ductions in road capacity accompanied by a com-
prehensive stategy of TDM and transit expansion
can mitigate negative impacts, even where the
roadway is a key link in the regional network. Un-
like most major U.S. cities, Seoul enjoyed signifi-
cant transit mode share prior to the project; how-
ever, like U.S. cities, it was increasingly choking
on its own traffic, with average annual increases
in the 1990s of 13 to 15%. The Cheonggyecheon
project also illustrates the tangible economic and
environmental benefits that can flow from urban
design that is richly symbolic and driven in large
part by quality-of-life perceptions.

Photo Sources:
Flickr user rinux: This author has given permis-
sion for use if credit is given under the following
license: Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic, http://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Case Studies
Riverfront Parkway – Chattanooga, TN
Background
Riverfront Parkway Before
Riverfront Parkway in Chattanooga, Tennes-
see; was constructed in the 1960s as a four-lane
freeway, intended to carry industrial truck traffic
along the Tennessee River. But not long after
the freeway’s construction, Chattanooga went
through difficult times: in the late 1960s its econ-
omy’s manufacturing base contracted, eliminat-
ing thousands of jobs; its air was declared by the
federal government to be the most polluted in the
nation; and the construction and configuration of Source: Glatting Jackson
roads intended to move traffic in and out of the Benefits
city hurt downtown Chattanooga’s business en-
vironment and hastened the decline of a once-vi- The Riverfront Parkway redesign represented
brant city center. The Riverfront Parkway that had years of consensus building and community col-
been designed to carry heavy industrial traffic no laboration. As a result of the Riverfront Parkway
longer had this purpose, and its physical location efforts, completed in mid-2004, several civic
blocked the city from its riverfront. When the city works and development projects have added
began a concerted effort beginning in the 1980s to value and vitality to downtown and the riverfront.
improve its image, led by efforts to enhance the Various national publications have named it one
quality of its downtown and restore its connec- of America’s most livable cities multiple times in
tion to the river, it became increasingly apparent the past ten years. Population in its downtown
that the Riverfront Parkway was a far larger piece has increased by over 30% since 1990, nearly
of infrastructure than Chattanooga needed. $250 million in investment occurred downtown
from 1998 to 2002 alone and property values have
The design for the reconstructed Riverfront Park- risen consistently.
way employed both a two-lane section allowing
shorter, safer pedestrian crossings and a four-lane Benefits of the project have included:
urban boulevard in different sections of its length. • Pedestrian connection from downtown Chat-
These new configurations not only restored pe- tanooga to the Tennessee River waterfront.
destrian access to the river by providing an easier
street to cross, they also restored an urban street • Creation of a new waterfront park and event
amenable to built fabric that would enrich and ex- area
pand Chattanooga’s downtown. However, imple- • Additional at-grade access from Riverfront
menting the narrowed cross-sections relied on Parkway to downtown via four new intersec-
enhancements to the overall street network that tions, allowing more even distribution of trips
would allow necessary traffic distribution. along downtown streets.
The new design for the Riverfront Parkway was • Added riverfront development opportunities
a catalyst and key component of Chattanooga’s
21st Century Riverfront Plan. It involved an exten-

January 2008 6G-
CASE STUDIES: Riverfront Parkway – Chattanooga, TN

sive public process including a series of meetings
Riverfront Parkway After and a community design session where residents,
city officials, Tennessee Department of Transpor-
tation (TDOT) representatives and key property
owners developed a conceptual plan to change
the parkway to better fit the needs of the city.

Impacts
Four new intersections on Riverfront Parkway at
Second Street, Lookout Street, Lindsay Street and
Houston Street were added. Before this, the only
access from the Parkway to downtown Chatta-
nooga was focused on two intersections, causing
Source: Glatting Jackson
congestion at these concentrated access points.
How is the case of Chattanooga Indeed, of the nearly 20,000 vehicles per day being
similar to Seattle? carried on the old Riverfront Parkway, over 13,000
of these were coming from or going to Chest-
• Like the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Riverfront nut Avenue for downtown access. This was pri-
Parkway effectively severed downtown marily traffic going downtown: on average, only
Chattanooga from the waterfront which between 2% and 3% of the vehicles making this
was the catalyst for its original growth and turn were heavy vehicles that had used Riverfront
prosperity. Parkway for its intended industrial purpose. The
addition of access options allowed traffic entering
In what ways is Chattanooga differ-
downtown to distribute onto a greater number of
ent from Seattle?
streets, lessening the burden on the two previous
• The role of the Riverfront Parkway was to access intersections and Chestnut Street, which
move traffic in and out of downtown. before the design functioned as the main traffic
distributor downtown.
• Riverfront Parkway carried approximately
20,000 vehicles per day, a significantly lower Matching the number of travel lanes to new vol-
number than the Alaskan Way Viaduct. umes involved a narrowing from four to two lanes
after Second Street, as the expected distribution
• Chattanooga’s economy was in decline,
of traffic onto downtown streets at earlier points
while Seattle retains a vibrant industrial
would reduce Riverfront Parkway volumes. As
economy and port.
a result, Riverfront Parkway became a two-lane
parkway with greatly improved safety of pedestri-
an crossings right in front of Chattanooga’s Ross
Landing Park, the Tennessee Aquarium and the
Bluff Arts Centre.

Changing the street design to match urban con-
text involved removal of median barriers and
the installation of curbs, gutters, sidewalks and
tree planted medians. These have not only im-
proved the aesthetics of the parkway, they have
also made it into a desirable downtown address
Source: Glatting Jackson
for new development and have improved the pe-
destrian experience along the Parkway (and not
Sources: just across it).
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin

6G- January 2008
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Route 29 – Trenton, NJ
Background
Route 29 Before
Route 29 in Trenton, New Jersey, was constructed
in the 1950s to serve as a high-speed commuting
freeway adjacent to the New Jersey state govern-
ment facilities in downtown Trenton. As was typi-
cal for the time, expanding suburban residential
development combined with the relative freedom
of automobile travel precipitated a shift in pri-
orities to maintaining vehicle mobility. The con-
struction of Route 29 converted a historic small
riverfront street alongside Trenton’s signature
park into a four-lane expressway that separated
the city’s downtown from the Delaware River. It
also replaced the canal closest to the river that Source: Glatting Jackson

had historically been Trenton’s major transporter
of goods and materials, and used valuable river- Benefits
front land adjacent to the city’s downtown. The The boulevard concept balances mobility needs
expressway now passes under the three main with access and benefits the City of Trenton by:
bridges entering Trenton across the Delaware • Promoting other mode choices through the
River and accesses U.S. Route 1 through a high- provision of pedestrian crossings, connec-
speed interchange built on 18 acres of waterfront tions to adjacent trail facilities, neighborhood
land. sidewalks, and a safe walking environment.
The design choices that were made to accommo- • Respecting the access needs of existing and
date private vehicle travel significantly degraded future land uses
the city’s civic realm, walkability, and land value. • Improving the flow of vehicular traffic by
Pedestrian spaces were converted to automobile reducing the number of vehicles exiting the
spaces. Much of the land adjacent to Route 29 is freeway at two major interchanges; adding
now occupied by large surface parking lots. The additional streets and intersections to share
road also has significant safety issues, with colli- the traffic load
sion rates exceeding statewide averages for roads
• Reducing vehicle speed and enhancing safety
of this type.
by:
In order to address these problems, and to contrib- ¤ Eliminating shoulders and high speed
ute to the revitalization of downtown, Trenton’s ramps
Capital City Redevelopment Corporation initiated ¤ Narrowing the width of pavement
the first of several planning efforts designed to re- ¤ Adding vertical curbs, street trees, changes
place the portion of Route 29 that passes through in paving material, sidewalks, and on-street
Trenton with an urban boulevard with at-grade parking
street crossings. This plan included changes de- ¤ Creating at-grade intersections
signed to reduce vehicle speeds, promote pedes-

January 2008 6H-
CASE STUDIES: Route 29 – Trenton, NJ

trian access to parking lanes and to downtown
parks, and improve urban design. The underlying
Route 29 After goal of this effort, which began in 2004, was to
(As Planned)
plan a smarter transportation network that would
balance the travel expectations of the public with
the need for better connections between the city
and its waterfront. In the long term, it would foster
a sustained redevelopment of the Capital District
in Trenton and restore its sense of place along the
Delaware River.

As of December 2007, the New Jersey Department
of Transportation (NJDOT) has not yet begun im-
plementation of this plan. As currently envisioned,
it actually consists of two separate projects, com-
Source: Glatting Jackson
prised of the portions of the boulevard north and
south of Calhoun Boulevard. The southern section
is still in early feasibility studies, while the north-
How is the case of Trenton
ern section has completed feasibility studies, but
similar to Seattle?
remains on hold due to a lack of funding.
• As in Seattle, the Route 29 Expressway
represents a physical and psychological How is Route 29 similar to the Alaskan Way Viaduct?
barrier between the heart of the city and
Like the Alaskan Way Viaduct, Route 29 creates
its waterfront.
a physical and psychological barrier between the
• The planning process for conversion heart of the city and its waterfront. Also like the
of Route 29 into a more urban-oriented Viaduct, Route 29 carries a significant amount of
street has been led by stakeholder through traffic: much of Route 29’s traffic travels
interviews and discussions that identi- through Trenton toward the interchange with In-
fied a need for enhanced network and terstates 195 and 295. However, unlike the Via-
cross-29 access as critical to a restored duct, Route 29 also carries large amounts of traf-
city-riverfront connection. fic traveling to the government centers and other
major employers in downtown Trenton.
In what ways is Trenton different
from Seattle? Impacts
• Route 29 carries 60,000 vehicles The most important impacts of the proposed proj-
per day, less than the Alaskan Way ect would be to promote redevelopment in down-
Viaduct town Trenton, to improve safety, and to remove a
barrier to the city’s waterfront.

It addition to these advantages, the project may
also bring improvements for some motorists. Be-
cause Route 29 was initially configured to provide
limited access into downtown Trenton, most of
the 60,000 daily vehicles that currently use the
expressway to access downtown Trenton do so
at just two interchanges, Calhoun Street and U.S.
Route 1. As originally planned, the reconfigured
Route 29 would add 13 at-grade intersections be-
tween these two points. This change would better
distribute vehicle traffic through downtown Tren-
ton’s street grid.

6H- January 2008
CASE STUDIES: Route 29 – Trenton, NJ

Overall, NJDOT’s traffic models show that if the
projects were implemented, travel times for mo- Sources:
torists would remain comparable to current travel “Route 29 Boulevard Study - Phase 1 Conceptual
times. Travel times on some segments of Route Development Memorandum.” City of Trenton.
29 would decrease due to expanded capacity in Prepared for: The New Jersey Department of
Transportation. June 2005.
the overall street network and the opportunities
for traffic distribution that this allowed. Corridor- Personal Communication with Lewis K. Branin,
New Jersey Department of Transportation, Office
wide, average peak-hour travel times would in- of Community Relations.
crease by approximately 90 seconds. Though this
Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin: Community
increase initially concerned the New Jersey De- Planning and Design Firm
partment of Transportation, local support for the
Route 29 urban boulevard concept has remained
strong. In anticipation of this change, private de-
velopment has already been proposed that would
add significantly to the fabric of downtown Tren-
ton and help to construct a large portion of the
local street network proposed under the plan.

While the project plans for both the northern
and southern segments of the boulevard are
continuing, neither will begin implementation
during 2008.

January 2008 6H-
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Vancouver – British Columbia, Canada
Recently voted the most livable city in the world,
Vancouver is in many ways a sister city to Seat- Revitalized Gastown
tle. Located in British Columbia about 140 miles (where proposed freeway
would have cut through)
north of Seattle, Vancouver has a similar climate
to Seattle and a strong economy based on tradi-
tional resource extraction, a high tech economy
and tourism. The populations of the cities proper
are both almost 600,000 people. Vancouver, how-
ever, is less than one-third the land area of Seattle
and therefore has significantly higher population
densities, especially in the central city.

Vancouver is the only major North American
city to not have built a freeway through its core, Source: Flickr
whereas downtown Seattle has both I-5 and High- • V a n c o u v e r a n d S e a t t l e h a v e s i m -
way 99. In Vancouver, a proposal in the 1960s to ilar population size and economies.
build a freeway through the core was defeated Vancouver has a comparable transit
network but has one-third the land area
by a grassroots effort of residents in Chinatown of Seattle and one-and-a-half times the
and other neighborhoods that the freeway would ridership of King County Metro.
have cut through. • No freeways have been built through
downtown Vancouver, whereas Seattle
Strong support for public transit, walking and
has two freeways: I-5 and Hwy 99.
biking has helped avoid high traffic volumes and
unbearable congestion on the streets of Vancou- • The population in downtown Vancouver
grew by 60% between 1991 and 2002, but
ver. New development has been high density, en- with no net increase in auto trips. Eighty-
couraging transit ridership, and key amenities are one percent of internal trips downtown
available within walking distance. The population are by walking or biking and 60% of all
trips to/from downtown are non-auto.
downtown increased by over 60% between 1991
Comparatively, more than half of trips
and 2002 (to 76,000) without any increase in ve- during the peak hour in downtown Seattle
hicle trips to and from downtown. Today, 81% of are by automobile.
all trips within downtown, 60% of all trips to and • The annual per capita cost of congestion
from downtown and 40% of all trips citywide are is approximately $220-$340 in Vancouver,
made by walking, bicycling, or public transit. The compared to $780 in Seattle (U.S. dollars,
2006).
economic cost of traffic congestion in Vancouver
has been calculated to be much lower than for • Forty-percent of downtown residents
work outside of downtown, leading to
Seattle and other more auto-oriented cities. The a moratorium on housing construction
estimated annual per capita cost of congestion in and an effort to increase office develop-
Vancouver is $220-$340 (U.S., 2006) compared to ment downtown, to achieve a better jobs-
housing balance.

January 2008 6I-
CASE STUDIES: Vancouver – British Columbia, Canada

$780 in Seattle. Traffic congestion is worse now
False Creek in in Vancouver than it was ten years ago. But more
downtown Vancouver people are traveling via other modes, so overall
travel times and congestion costs have decreased
significantly.

Vancouver has achieved these results with a
progressive “Living-First” strategy and subse-
quent plans and policies that emphasize a shift
away from automobiles as a dominant form
of transportation. The Transportation Plan of 1997
includes a specific determination that road capaci-
ty to downtown will not be increased further, with
strong accompanying support for public transit,
Source: Flickr user walking and bicycling.

Vancouver has a comprehensive, cost-effec-
tive and high-performance transit system, called
Translink. It includes a 31-mile long automated rail
system, and the rest of the network is comprised
of on-street buses, including a highly successful
Bus Rapid Transit route. Translink has a service
area population similar to King County Metro and
similar number of vehicles in service. However,
Translink operates within a much smaller area
built out at significantly higher densities down-
Sources: town. Transit is thus more accessible to more
Economist Intelligence Unit, as reported by people, with one and a half times the ridership of
CNN News (http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/ King County Metro. Almost one-quarter of riders
europe/10/04/eui.survey/)
on the BRT route formerly drove a car to make the
Vancouver Economic Development Commission
same trip.
(http://www.vancouvereconomic.com)
Greater Vancouver Regional District (http://www. Notably however, 40% of downtown residents
translink.bc.ca) work outside of downtown. This led to a morato-
City of Seattle Department of Transportation rium in 2005 on residential housing construction
(http:// www.seattle.gov/transportation/)
downtown, coupled with an effort to develop more
US Census (http://factfinder.census.gov) office space for a better jobs-housing balance.
National Transit Database (http://www.ntdpro- Vancouver also has the highest housing prices
gram.gov/ntdprogram) in Canada, and Vancouver households pay the
highest proportion of their income towards hous-
Photo Sources:
ing. Efforts to develop more housing and more
Flickr user upyernoz: http://www.flickr.com/
photos/upyernoz/689433/. This author has given affordable elsewhere in the city through various
permission for use if credit is given under programs and policies are being implemented to
the following license: http://creativecommons.
ensure sustained economic growth for Vancouver
org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
and its residents.
Flickr user squeakymarmot: http://www.flickr.
com/photos/squeakymarmot/312506622/. This
author has given permission for use if credit is
given under the following license: http://creative-
commons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Background
DRAFT
In an effort to reconnect its central city with the Gardiner Expressway
waterfront on Lake Ontario, the city of Toronto is in Toronto
Construction Staging Plan & Traffic Disruption
considering removing the Frederick G. Gardiner
Expressway, which links the city with its suburbs
to the west.

The expressway runs from Highway 427 to the Don
Valley Parkway, along the edge of Lake Ontario. It
was first planned in 1943, and construction began
in 1955. The expressway was built in segments,
with the last completed in 1966. The final seg-
ment of the freeway to be completed, from Don
Valley Parkway to Leslie Street, was demolished
in 2001. This takedown was finished on time and
under budget, and this success encourages those
Source: Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation
now supporting removal of the remainder of the November 2004
expressway. Currently about 40% of commuter
trips to and from Toronto are made by private Possible outcomes for the
auto, and about a quarter of these travel on the Gardiner/Lakeshore Corridor
Gardiner. However, transit’s mode share for com- Do nothing ($12 million Canadian/year
muters has increased markedly in recent years. maintenance)
The existing freeway has numerous problems. It Replacement ($1.4 billion Canadian)
is widely considered an eyesore, and the structure
Retain and Ameliorate ($465 million
itself is outdated (maintenance currently costs
Canadian)
about $12 million per year). Perhaps the most
serious problem is that the expressway creates a Great Street ($490 million Canadian)
barrier between Toronto and Lake Ontario.

In removing the structure, Toronto would seek to
beautify the city and improve the sense of place
in the neighborhoods near the roadway. It would
seek to maximize the benefits of waterfront re-
vitalization efforts, and would recognize the pri-
mary importance of transit as a key to the future
growth of the city.

The Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corpora-
tion (TWRC) has studied three options for the
Gardiner/Lakeshore Corridor. One is to replace

the expressway with a combination of an at-grade
road, an express road on a rail embankment, and
a four-lane tunnel. While this would not provide a
consistent urban boulevard, it would eliminate the
barrier effect of the existing elevated structure. It
would cost approximately $1.4 billion.

A second scenario, which has been termed “re-
tain and ameliorate” would attempt to reduce the
barrier effect while retaining the existing elevated
structure. It would improve north-south roadway
connections, remove ramps, and add architectur-
al enhancements to the structure. The estimated
cost would be approximately $465 million.

The TWRC’s preferred option, termed the “Great
Street” option, is to remove most of the freeway
and replace it with a Waterfront Boulevard. Even
under this scenario, the portion of the freeway
west of Spadina, its busiest section, would be
Source: Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation
retained. The total cost would be approximately
$490 million.
Similarities to Alaskan Way Viaduct
Impacts
• A key travel route for the city
Models run in 2004 predicted that the “Great
• A Barrier between the city and its water- Street” option would increase travel times an av-
front erage of three to four minutes during peak hours,
• Aging, inadequate infrastructure that would and reduce speeds by 10 to 15 kilometers per
be costly to replace. hour. Through trips would be an average of two
to seven minutes longer.
Differences from the Alaskan Way
An analysis of the economic impact, also com-
Viaduct
pleted in 2004, found that the plan could generate
• Primarily a route for commuters into and $950 million (Canadian) in total spending, create
out of the city, rather than a bypass 8,100 person-year of employment, and allow the
city to avoid $120 million in spending for mainte-
nance of the structure.

Models predict that level of service for autos
would be somewhat reduced during the project’s
implementation, but that a reasonable level of
service could be maintained. A key to reducing
implementation impacts would be to build a re-
placement system before demolishing existing
systems whenever possible.

The plan envisions that future growth can be ac-
commodated through expanded public transit.
This vision is consistent with the objectives de-
scribed in the city’s major planning documents
(including its Official Plan, Central Waterfront
Secondary Plan, and Ontario’s Greenbelt and
Growth Strategy.) There are currently 12 transit

projects underway and scheduled for completion
by 2009, part of a $1 billion planned expansion of
Toronto’s GO transit system, which will allow for
an increase of travel capacity far bigger than the
capacity currently provided by the Gardiner.

In addition to expanded transit capacity, the Great
Street plan envisions an upgraded street network.
The most important such improvement is the ex-
tension of Front Street, which would have to be
built before the freeway was removed. The Front
Street Extension would be expected to carry 30%
of all traffic bound for downtown, and accommo-
date movement in and out of the city for more
than a third of the traffic that now uses the Gar-
diner. Planners have concluded that levels of ser-
vice for autos would be unacceptable without this
extension.

How is the Gardiner Expressway Similar to the
Alaskan Way Viaduct?
Like the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the Gardiner Ex-
pressway is a major transportation corridor
through downtown Toronto. While it serves pri-
marily as a commuter route, rather than as a city
bypass, the Gardiner shares with the Viaduct high
traffic volumes and the fact that it is a barrier be-
tween the city and its waterfront. The Gardiner is
also an aging piece of infrastructure and therefore
inadequate to accommodate future growth with-
out major new investment. Studies on the future
of the Gardiner corridor have cited Seattle and its
debate about Alaskan Way Viaduct as a peer city
considering a similar set of issues.

Like Seattle, Toronto would have to couple the
removal of its freeway with significant improve-
ments to the street network, as well as major new
investments in transit to accommodate future
Sources
growth. In its planning documents and in its re-
cent investment decisions, Toronto has already “Improving the Gardiner –Transforming Toronto.”
Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation.
committed to expanded transit mode share for Presentation on September 27, 2006.
commuters as a key to its future.
Technical Briefing Report, Gardiner Lakeshore
Corridor, Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corpo-
ration, July 2004.
MicroSimulation of the Toronto Waterfront Revi-
talization Plan, Intellican Transportation. December
2004.
Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation
website: http://www.waterfrontoronto.ca, accessed
December 2007.

January 2008 6J-
Seattle Urban Mobility Plan

Case Studies
Park East Freeway – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Background
In 2003, Milwaukee replaced its aging Park East Park East Freeway in
Freeway, a mile-long elevated spur, with McKin- Milwaukee Wisconsin
ley Avenue, a landscaped six-lane surface boule-
vard. The most important factor motivating the
plan was the city’s interest in encouraging rede-
velopment and reinvestment in the surrounding
property.

Running from I-43 to downtown, the Park East
Freeway was one section of a 1970s era plan to
ring Milwaukee’s central business district with
an expressway. The expressway loop plan had Source: Milwaukee Planning Department.
raised significant opposition both from commu-
nity activists and from elected officials when it be-
How is the case of Milwaukee
gan, and construction had been halted before the
similar to Seattle?
expressway could be extended to Lake Michigan.
The Park East Freeway began operating in 1971, • Park East Freeway, like the Alaskan Way
but because the other segments were never com- viaduct, created a major physical and
pleted, it was underutilized. This spur divided the psychological barrier in the heart of the
northern part of downtown from the rest of the central city.
central city, creating both a visual and a physical
barrier and lowering property values on the sur- In what ways is Milwaukee differ-
rounding land. ent from Seattle?
• As a spur and part of an incomplete free-
McKinley Avenue, a new at grade six-lane bou- way network, the Park East Freeway car-
levard, is fully connected with the surrounding ried just 54,000 trips per day, significantly
street grid. The county’s Board of Supervisors ap- fewer than the Alaskan Way Viaduct.
proved a resolution endorsing the removal of the
freeway in 1999, and Wisconsin governor Tommy
Thompson dropped his initial opposition to the
plan because of the facility’s low traffic volume.
Demolition began in 2002 and was completed in
2003 using federal ISTEA money, as well as lo-
cal Tax Increment Financing. The county was the
lead agency, and it worked in cooperation with
the City of Milwaukee and the Wisconsin DOT.

One of the activists who led community op-
position to the 1970s expressway plans, John
Norquist, had been elected Mayor of Milwaukee
in 1988, and was one of the city officials who sup-
ported the effort to remove the Park East Freeway.
Norquist resigned as mayor in 2003 to become
president of the Congress for New Urbanism,
where he now serves.

The estimated cost to rebuild the aging freeway
was $100 million. By contrast, the total cost of re-
placing it with McKinley Avenue was $25 million,
about $20 million of which was paid with federal
funds. The plan also allowed for other street mod-
ifications in the surrounding network, including
Source: Flickr the conversion of some streets from one-way to
two-way operation to improve traffic flow.

Impacts
In 1999 the Park East Freeway carried 54,000
weekday trips, significantly fewer than the Alas-
kan Way Viaduct. Slightly more than half of these
trips were through traffic, and the rest had origins
or destinations in the central business district or
immediately to its north. At the time, trips in 2020
were predicted to be 60,600 per week day, and
the replacement of the expressway with a sur-
face arterial was anticipated to reduce this total to
52,600. Roughly 24,000 trips would be diverted to
surface arterial streets, and 8 to 11,000 trips would
Source: Flickr
be diverted from uncongested conditions on the
New development in Milwukee attributed to existing expressway to other, more congested
freeway removal. freeways. The major negative impact was a some-
what reduced level of service for some motorists.
In adopting the plan, the mayor and city council
acknowledged this impact and proceeded be-
cause of the plan’s other benefits.

The main objective of the plan, as adopted by
the city and county, was the “promotion of de-
velopment and redevelopment in the area of the
Park East Freeway” (Amendment to the Regional
Transportation Plan). The demolition of the free-
way converted approximately 26 acres of right-of-
way into land available for private development.
The redevelopment area, which includes the old
right-of-way as well as surrounding land, is now
composed of roughly 28 traditional city blocks on
64 acres. Some previously divided streets have
been reconnected, a new Knapp Street lift bridge

crosses the Milwaukee River, and the city’s down-
town Riverwalk has been extended.

The redevelopment area created three new neigh-
borhoods: McKinley Avenue District (office, retail,
and entertainment); Lower Water Street District
(office and residential in addition to the exist-
ing residential); and Upper Water Street District
(higher density residential). As of 2007, five proj-
ects totaling $340 million of investment are either
under review or approved, and more have been
proposed.

The plan did diminish the parking supply. Because
the existing Park East Freeway had depressed the
value of surrounding land, much of the adjacent
property was used for surface parking lots. The
elimination of the expressway encouraged devel-
opment and raised land prices, which encouraged
development on land that then provided approxi-
mately 2,400 surface parking spaces.

How is the Park East Freeway Similar to the Alaskan
Way Viaduct?
The Park East Freeway, like the Alaskan Way Via-
duct, created a major physical and psychological
barrier in the heart of the central city. Also similar
to the Viaduct, a significant amount of the traffic
that traveled on the freeway was through traffic,
although about half was central business district
traffic. The key difference between the Park East Sources:
Freeway and the Viaduct, however, is that the Amendment to the Regional Transportation Plan:
Park East Freeway carried significantly less traffic Park East Freeway Corridor. As Adopted by the
Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning
overall. Removal of the freeway, as a spur, did not Commission, February 2001.
create the same need to mitigate the significant
“Park East Removal and Redevelopment His-
traffic impacts as Seattle will experience when it tory.” Department of City Development: http://
removes the Alaskan Way Viaduct. www.mkedcd.org/parkeast/pehistory.html.

The key lesson for Seattle from the Park East Free- “Tear it Down!” By John O. Norquist. Blueprint
way removal project, therefore, is not in how to Magazine, September 1, 2000.
deal with traffic impacts, but in demonstrating “Freeway razing sets stage for $250 million in
the benefit of removing an elevated freeway for development.” Urban News, July/August 2004.
a surrounding community. The elimination of the
freeway structure came at a much lower financial Photo Source:
cost than rebuilding it, and allowed for a more Flickr user compujeramey: http://www.flickr.
complete street network, and a much improved com/photos/compujeramey/473272977/
and http://www.flickr.com/photos/compu-
neighborhood feel in the adjacent areas. jeramey/2112897407/. This author has given
permission for use if credit is given under the
following license: http://creativecommons.
org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en